


PIED PIPER

by meclea



Category: Loveless
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Dubious Consent, M/M, Manipulation, Masturbation, Mind Games, One-Sided Attraction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-29 06:03:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10847967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meclea/pseuds/meclea
Summary: When Nisei goes to sleep at night, he tells himself that he didn't want to do any of it. Seimei hadtoldhim to. That was reason enough to do anything.





	PIED PIPER

_He advanced to the council-table:_  
_And, "Please your honours," said he, "I'm able,_  
_"By means of a secret charm, to draw_  
_"All creatures living beneath the sun,_  
_"That creep or swim or fly or run,_  
_"After me so as you never saw!_  
_"And I chiefly use my charm_  
_"On creatures that do people harm,_  
_"The mole and toad and newt and viper;_  
_"And people call me the Pied Piper."_

—from The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning

 

  
If someone had told him what Aoyagi Seimei was when they had first met, when Seimei had tilted his head and smiled so beautifully on that first day as he said "How about your eraser? Lend it to me!"—

Yes, if someone had told him what Aoyagi Semei was—

Well.

Nothing would have changed. Nisei was powerless to Seimei, in this world and the next. Seimei could tell him to crawl through fire and brimstone and Nisei would drop to his knees and _crawl._ Seimei had not yet commanded crawling through fire and brimstone, but he had ordered Nisei to kill, to deceive, to rape, and Nisei had done it all without batting an eyelash.

When Nisei goes to sleep at night, he tells himself that he didn't want to do any of it. Seimei had _told_ him to. That was reason enough to do anything.

+++

The lights were on when Nisei came home.

That in and of itself wasn't alarming; the only person who had a spare key to Nisei's apartment was Seimei. Nisei hadn't even known there was a spare until one day Seimei, preceded by the sound of a bolt unlocking, had waltzed right in without much fanfare on his part. Nisei had thought of asking when Seimei had made a duplicate, and _why_ , but decided better of it when Semei flashed him a cheerfully lethal smile.

Seimei did not visit Nisei at his home often anymore these days. He had been hanging around that old woman's residence, with some man named Nakahira. Nisei didn't know much about the arrangement. It was most likely Seimei's intention that he was kept in the dark about it, even though Seimei had enough clearance to Nisei's own personal life enough that he was able to enter and leave Nisei's home freely. Seimei had a penchant for compartmentalization, keeping his associates far apart from each other. It was, Nisei privately thought, probably a means to control. That sort of behavior should have alarmed him more than it did these days.

Nisei placed his grocery bags on the floor. Seimei's shoes were set neatly in the genkan, and Nisei slipped off his own to be put next to them. Nisei's shoes were small in comparison.

"I'm home," Nisei said brightly. His heart was already edging towards double-time pace, always eager to see Seimei the way a dog was eager to see its master, but his excitement belied unease. He couldn't think of more than a handful of reasons for Seimei to come here directly, and none of those reasons involved a friendly chat or to play a few rounds of that new RPG that Nisei's been hooked on for the past two weeks.

Seimei appeared at the end of the hallway, a tall, dark shadow clad in a gentle smile that raked shivers down Nisei's spine like sharpened claws.

Nisei would be lying if he were to say that the feeling was entirely unwelcome.

"Welcome home," said Seimei.

Nisei picked up his groceries and brought them into the kitchen, moving slowly but forcing his body to remain relaxed. He didn't have much to put away, but he would make it stretch, hoping to at least figure out what it was exactly that brought Seimei here tonight by the time his bags would be emptied. "Can I get you anything? Tea?"

"Yes, that would be awfully kind of you."

Nisei put the kettle on so it would heat while he finished putting away his groceries. Seimei lingered in the entrance to the kitchen, regarding Nisei with that inscrutable look—even though his smile was kind, his expression almost never reflected his true thoughts. Regardless, the attention made Nisei want to preen and purr.

"What brings you here, Seimei?" Nisei asked once they were settled back in the living room, teacups in hand. They sat on opposite sides of the room, Nisei on the couch and Seimei on the large recliner that Nisei had mentally labelled as "Seimei's Chair;" he didn't even sit on it when Seimei wasn't present. Even on opposite sides of the room, the limited space in Nisei's apartment resulted in close proximity. Nisei could reach Seimei in two strides if he were to stand up.

Steam curled up from Seimei's teacup, vague tendrils framing his smiling face. "Oh? I can't just visit my friend and Fighter just because?"

"Of course you can," Nisei said. "You just don't do it a lot these days."

Seimei made a humming noise. "You sound a bit bitter, Nisei. Do you resent that I don't come to see you more often?"

Nisei's gaze flicked off to the side. In truth, yes, he was "a bit bitter." Seimei's plans continued to get grander and grander, and Nisei's role in all of this consequently became smaller and smaller. And now with Soubi back in the picture....

Nisei looked away. His gaze settled on the monitoring equipment he hadn't bothered to put away. It wasn't outdated, exactly, the model only two years older than the latest, but Seimei had, in his particular manner of both politeness and hostility, implied that the recording quality of his current gear wasn't to his standards. "No, not at all," Nisei said. His half-smile tasted rancid on his lips. He hoped he looked amused at the notion that he'd be upset about something.

"I'm pleased to hear that."

They drank their tea in silence. Seimei watched him with dark eyes over the rim of his cup. Nisei, in his nervousness, finally broke the silence with something mundane, something about that video game. Seimei didn't offer anything to the conversation beyond a cursory "Is that so?" The comment was dismissive enough to spark an iota of irritation in the back of Nisei's mind, but it was nothing worthy of confrontation with Seimei. No. He had been walking on eggshells ever since Soubi came back. Nisei couldn't afford to do anything to compromise his favor with Seimei. He was already so close to being cast aside as it currently stood.

Nisei cleaned up the teacups and settled back down into his seat, and Seimei watched him like a cat watches a mouse. He leaned back and crossed one leg over the other. Even here, in Nisei's small, cheap apartment, he looked like some dark prince from a fairy-tale, fiction come to life in his lithe, elegant figure. "I wanted to let you know that we are likely to battle against Moonless very soon."

Now this—Nisei knew that this could mean a great many of things. Perhaps it meant that Seimei planned on instigating a fight with Moonless, or that he was planning no fight but knew Moonless had already planned an attack of their own against Beloved. It was possible that it meant that Seimei was in favor of an attack, but was not actively seeking it out. Or maybe it was all academic, and Seimei just had a feeling that it would come to pass.

Or maybe he now sought a reaction rather than anything else. Nisei, unsure of what reaction he was supposed to offer, made a noncommittal noise. Seimei said, "I wanted to let you know beforehand so that you can prepare yourself. Of course, I'll let them choose which one of my Fighters they will battle."

"How generous of you."

"I can be very generous," Seimei said. "They may very well choose Soubi. He does have a reputation, and they might wish to battle him for it. But it's more likely that they'll choose you, seeing as they might want revenge on you for raping Mikado."

That word, that _word_. That word still triggered the memory of the girl's screaming and sobbing, of her body opening so easily to him even as she objected with all of her being, of a dark shadow looming just off to the side but seeming to swallow them both whole.

Enough.

"Me?" Nisei said. He smiled and wished that he had the teacup still so he could wrap his hands around it instead of fighting with Herculean effort to keep them still. "I was only acting under your direct orders. I don't think it will matter to Moonless which Fighter you use as long as they can fight you."

"What are you talking about, Nisei? I didn't make you do anything."

Nisei's brows furrowed. "Don't you remember? You..."

"Are you saying," Seimei said, voice saccharine and dripping with venom, "that you'd do anything I told you to without second-guessing it?" He laughed. "Why, Nisei, I think that makes you lower than even a dog. At least a dog would still have a conscience in some matters. But you must not have even that."

The rage cracked through Nisei. "I have my free will. I don't have to obey you, I _chose_ —"

"You don't have to obey me?" Seimei repeated quietly, and oh, _oh_. Nisei understood now. He saw the catch-22 that had trapped him in this cage without him realizing it sooner. If he obeyed Seimei's every order without question, he lost the humanity manifested in his free will. If he had chosen to do this, _all_ of this, then he was a monster. Different means to the same end.

He wondered if Mikado's screams were caused by his inhuman obedience or his own monstrous alignment.

Seimei was right. He was less than a dog.

"Get down on your knees and crawl to me," Seimei said, and Nisei numbly sank to the floor and obeyed. He went on his hands and knees before folding himself to sit at Seimei's feet. Seimei's gaze bore down on Nisei. It was an almost palpable pressure, a vice in its own right. He didn't need to wrap their bond around Nisei to make him feel crushed.

"I told you what to do," Seimei said. "You didn't have to do any of it, if you didn't want to. But you did. It's repulsive of you to try to put that blame on me."

Yes, some part of him desperately wanted to pin the guilt on Seimei, but it wouldn't grab hold, kept slipping. Did Seimei even know what guilt was? If he did, he did not give value to it. It was another superfluous thing in the way of his inscrutable plan.

"What wouldn't you do if I told you to do it?" Seimei said. He did not wait for an answer. "Here you are, a wretch at my feet. Even my feet are more worthy than your whole existence, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes, Seimei," Nisei whispered.

"I wonder if you would kiss my feet if I told you to."

Nisei thought that was an order and went to obey, his mouth searching for the Seimei's heel. Seimei's foot immediately pushed him back with enough force to destabilize him and to smart his nose. "Don't actually do it," Seimei laughed. "Your mouth is disgusting. I don't want it on me."

Of course he didn't. How Nisei could have been so stupid to have forgotten something like this, Nisei didn't know. But it hurt to be reminded. Nisei could, for short periods of time, forget that the idolization in this relationship was on his part and on his part alone. He loved Seimei, like everyone loved Seimei, and his feelings were simply there, harmless and disregarded until Seimei deigned to antagonize them the way he antagonized everything else.

He recoiled even as Seimei leaned forward, a new glint in his dark eyes. "Though we're both aware that's not what you want. If you had your way, this relationship would be completely different."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Nisei gritted out.

"Don't you?" Seimei had the gall to sound surprised. "If I said you could put your mouth on me and I meant it, would you refuse?"

The word "yes" was thick in the back of his throat, where it clung stubbornly when he tried to say it. He couldn't lie now, not while Seimei's full unfettered scrutiny pressed down on him. His mouth opened and shut stupidly for a few moments. Then he glared at the floor.

Seimei hummed. "Interesting." Then he said, "Unzip your pants and pull out your cock."

A great many of things flooded Nisei's thoughts then. There was the utter shock of the command itself, with its vast lack of precedence and logic. The way Seimei said the word "cock" ignited something dark in Nisei, even as he was horrified as such a disgusting word passed Seimei's lips. As subsequently as a flicked switch, he felt arousal and shame in equal parts swelling his sex. His own reaction sickened him, and, dumbfounded, he could do no more than stare at Seimei.

"Can you hear me?" Seimei said. He had the gall to sound amused. "I grow impatient with you, Nisei. _Unzip your pants and pull out your cock._ I won't ask you again."

Throat tight with anxiety, he unzipped the fly to his pants. Distantly, he realized his hands were shaking. He felt a drop of sweat slide down his back; it was cold. But below his waistline he was hot, burning, and the two dissonant feelings warred to create disorientation. As though through a fog, Nisei watched his hand withdraw his cock, not fully hardened but far from flaccid, from his pants. When he looked back up, Seimei was regarding him with impassive interest, and Nisei couldn't stop the thrum of arousal steadily growing stronger under the full force of Seimei's attention.

"I think you got hard faster now than you did when you raped poor Mikado."

Nisei bit the inside of his cheek. Seimei wasn't—he wasn't wrong, and Nisei had no rebuttal. Seimei leaned back and steepled his fingers. His ears were a crown of innocence, even as he struck innocence down around him wherever he went. "I don't know if I even have the words to convey to you how pathetic this is. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Oh, God, there were tears in his eyes. He was so humiliated and disgusted with himself. He couldn't cry now, not like this. _Not like this._

"Answer me, Nisei."

"I'm sorry." His voice cracked. He didn't know what he was sorry for, but he _was_ , he was so sorry he was sick with it. He was sorry that he got hard for Seimei like that, when Seimei was far above him. Sorry that he raped Mikado. Sorry that he was sorry for obeying his Sacrifice's orders. Sorry for being the wretched creature he was.

Seimei's eyebrow twitched, and his eyes grew darker. "I see. How pitiful." Then, "Stroke yourself."

Nisei's hand was already half-way there anyways when the command came.  He hadn't wilted at all. The first tear welled over as his hand grasped himself. His shaking hand slid down his cock, slow and unsure. Sick pleasure flared in his veins, his hips tipping into his grip.

"Look at me, Nisei." Seimei waited, and when his gaze held, he said, "Never forget how you feel right now. You're disgusting. You're afraid. You have no control of yourself." Nisei's breath came out in stuttering huffs, his body flushing from his face down to his neck and across his chest. He could only focus on Seimei's words and the heat spiraling to his cock while his shame blanketed all facets of his awareness. "This is what happens when you give into your own sick desires. I am here to keep you under control, so you don't have to feel like this. If I command, you obey. You do not question me. You do not blame me. You obey, because you're no more than a dog. Do you understand?"

Nisei's head was swimming, and he answered with small pants of "Hah, hah, h-ah" instead of words.

" _Do you understand?_ "

"Yes," Nisei said, actively thrusting into his hand by this point. The tears came steadily now, carving wet fissures across his face.

"Come," Seimei commanded, a divine decree, and Nisei was soaring, and he was falling, and then he was nothing at all.

 

+++

  
"Not like a dog," Seimei suddenly said. He stood in the doorway, a hand still on the knob.

Nisei's voice cracked on a pathetic "What?" He lied on the living room floor, a knot of limbs, covered in his own seed. He had been drained of everything he had and filled with Seimei's will; he knew with resigned, terrible certainty that there would be no insubordination after this. Seimei was his new law. Anything beyond him was irrelevant.

"You're not like a dog. You're more like a rat," Seimei said, and pulled the door shut behind him.

 

 

 _The music ceased at once. To me its ending was as awful as the loss of the sun,_  
_leaving a world swamped in darkness._  
_Verily a light-o'-laughter had become extinguished_  
_and there was nothing around me but the gray-brown souls of the_  
_immeasurably sad._

—from The Rhythm of the Rats by Eric Frank Russell


End file.
